


A Dark and Stormy Night

by White Aster (white_aster)



Category: Chii's Sweet Home, GetBackers
Genre: Animals, Comedy, Community: no_true_pair, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-24
Updated: 2008-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/white_aster/pseuds/White%20Aster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mugger gets more than he bargained for when he tries to rob a man in black.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Dark and Stormy Night

It is a dark and stormy night in the city. The sun flees behind the horizon, abandoning the streets to the rain. The good people of the city hurry to their destinations, locking their doors securely behind them. Out on the streets, darkness descends, crawling into every alleyway and shadow and emerging as the night's compliment of thieves, murderers, thugs, and madmen. The buildings huddle together as if for warmth, or perhaps protection.

This is the blooming of the city's dark side. Murder, assault, burglary, rape, kidnapping, blackmail...these are the city's vices, performed under cover of darkness and splashed across the front newspaper pages in words like "anarchy" and "crisis" and "crime wave".

This is Tokyo.

Still, there are some who brave the night, in the most direst of circumstances. Brave souls...or perhaps foolish.

On this night, in a neighborhood pleasant enough by day and actually rather peaceful by nightfall, a door opens. A man steps out onto his front stoop. He is dressed in black, from the top of his wide-brimmed hat to the toe of his shined black shoes. His clothes are tasteful, speaking of at least some money in his pockets. He hums a jaunty tune, the melody quickly swallowed up by the shadows. One such shadow opens its eyes hungrily, noting the man's slight build, his silly hat, his oblivious good cheer as he leaves the safety of his home.

The man turns to close the door behind him and pauses, leaning down to address someone...or something...inside. "Ah, would you like to come? Are you sure? It is raining. You know how much you dislike getting wet.... Very well."

Something slides out the door after him, but when the man turns and starts down the street, there is no sign of it. The man adjusts the tilt of his hat, tucks his hands in his pockets, and sets off at a leisurely pace, whistling now.

The shadow smiles with bright teeth. The man is obviously easy pickings, the shadow (which is no shadow at all, but a very large thug with several large blades and a very large debt to pay) thinks. The thug is new to this part of town, having moved here in search of better hunting grounds than the overcrowded streets of his usual hangout. This was, he thinks, a good choice, since he's already found a juicy mark this early in the evening.

The thug is so busy patting himself on the back that he does not think to wonder exactly why his fellow thugs tend to avoid this part of the city.

The whistling man in black walks along the street for a few blocks, apparently oblivious to the large shadow following him. The thug bides his time, until the man turns onto a less well-lit street. Yes, the thug thinks. There. Next to that abandoned building. Between those two burned-out streetlights, before the man gets to the corner store. Perfect.

The thug moves, surprisingly quick for all his bulk. He rushes forward, knife in one hand, brawny arm out to wrap around his victim's neck. He's so close, he can see the rain beading on the guy's stupid hat, and the thug reaches out to grab him and--

\--and the guy is GONE. The thug stumbles a bit, looking down stupidly at the air in front of him where the man used to be.

"My my, and we were having such a nice little stroll, weren't we?"

"Mrt."

The thug whirls, and the man in black is behind him, smiling and shaking his head. "Really. You people never learn."

The thug means to gather his wits. He means to brandish his knife and demand the guy's money and get this whole mugging back on track. Instead, he no sooner starts to raise his knife than the man in black moves again, a blur of motion that the thug can't even track. There's a glint of silver in his hands, a rush of air, and the thug is thrown back. He cries out in surprise and pain and looks over to see his knife hand pinned to the brick wall of the abandoned building. There's something long and slim and metal jammed through his leather jacket (and not a little of his skin, too) all the way into the brick. The thug tries to pull away and pain lances up his arm. It looks like he won't be able to get away without pulling whatever is pinning him from the brick or ripping his arm wide open. "W...what the hell!?" the thug finally manages to get out.

"Now, now, you can't act surprised, when you meant to assault us," the man in black says, sounding bored. "You're hardly worth any more effort, but then I suppose my partner should have her say, too."

The man moves closer, and the thug tears his eyes away from the blood seeping from his sleeve to turn his head. He cringes, coming face to face with...a kitten. The thug blinks, but yes, that's a kitten dangling from the man's hand.

The thug and the kitten look at each other for a long moment. "...Mrew?" the kitten says.

"Chii," the man in black says, patiently, "this man wanted to take our money, and possibly harm us."

The kitten frowns. The thug isn't sure how, but the kitten FROWNS at him. "MRR," the kitten says, obviously very displeased.

"And not only that," the man in black continues, "without our money, we wouldn't be able to buy anything from the corner store."

The kitten's eyes grow wide, its fur starting to fluff out.

"Yes," the man in black continues, mournfully. "This very, VERY misguided man was going to keep us from buying your favorite salmon-flavored ice cream and the tasty Nyao-Nyao cat treats. Now, Chii, what punishment do you think is proper for such behavior?"

"HHHHHSSSSSSSSSSSST!" Chii says, little legs flailing as they REACH....

The thug whimpers and debates on whether he really NEEDS his arm or not, because really--

"I thought so," the man in black says. "I leave him to your mercy." And he sets the kitten on top of the thug's head.

Twenty claws and quite a few needle-sharp kitten-teeth take out their indignant cat-rage on the pinned thug in a whirlwind of fluffy, hissing death. The thug's screams echo down the street, and a few other would-be shadows cringe, reminded of why they should steer clear of this particular bit of turf.

After the thug's cries have receded to whimpers, Akabane looks down at Chii. "Quite finished, neko-sama? I do believe that he has learned his lesson."

Chii looks up at him, tired, her fur matted with rain, her feet QUITE wet from the puddle she's standing in, and says, piteously, "Nyaaaaaaaoo."

"I did warn you," Akabane said, picking her up gently. "Shall we go get our treats and return home?"

Chii happily slithers down inside his warm, dry pocket. "Mrt," the pocket says.

And so, peace descends once again on this little part of the city.


End file.
